Wow, one of my personal favorite musicians. For anyone interested in a little more history, Barrett played on the 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' and one song (Jugband Blues) on Floyd's second album, 'Saucerful of Secrets'. Additionally, a couple of singles that didn't make it onto the original release of the first album (Arnold Layne and See Emily Play) have been released on a number of Floyd compilation sets. Much of the 'Wish You Were Here' album is themed with Syd in mind, most notably "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". Gilmour and Mason worked with Syd during the mid-sevenites on some solo efforts, 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett'. Songs from these and some new originals were included in 'Opal'. There have been a ton of compilations of Syd's work since then. Syd's music (both the first Floyd record and his solo albums) are a lot of fun and delightfully irreverent. The book, "Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Story" is a very good read and gives a glimpse into Syd's eccentric behavior and artisitic mind. I could write a dozen pages about Syd and his music. 'Barrett' and 'The Madcap Laughs' are easy to track down and are worth a buy, as is the first Floyd album. RIP Syd - "You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom"
Poor Syd. Thanks for the music man, you will be missed. You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon. Shine on you crazy Diamond...
Wherever he is now, I hope he's got some peace. So much talent that didn't get tapped nearly as much as it could've been because of too many drugs.
